A Step Back in the Shadows
by Falneou17
Summary: Everybody has done something that they regret today, and Ken is no exception. After his big defeat at the hands of a group of children, the young male finds himself bombarded with the memories of his past misdeeds.


**The fourth oneshot of the Saten Ruiko Day Countdown/ LightZephyr Appreciation Week! Today's chapter will focus on Ichijouji Ken! Set after the first half of Adventure 02.**

 **Special thanks to Namitaa776 for helping out!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, nor do I, in any way, shape or form intend to pretend that I do**

* * *

Several days had already passed, but it still felt so surreal for the blue-haired boy; almost like it was all just part of a really long dream. Or, he frowned as he was waking up, a nightmare.

As the moonlight entered the room through the small split in the curtains, Ken sat up straight in his bed and let the covers fall off his chest. With his messy hair slightly obscuring his vision, the eleven-year-old grasped around blindly when it hit something hard to his left.

Now fully awake, and holding his hand in an effort to comfort the throbbing pain, Ken slid out of bed to see what he had hit.

On the ground lay an open chest that had its content spilling out. Narrowing his eyes, Ken recognized a little blue teddy bear, a dark blue toy caravan, several old but still intact bubble blowers, and several drawings that he had completely forgotten about.

Picking up one of the scattered drawings, Ken's eyes widened when he saw what was on the sheet.

Letting it slip through his fingers, the blue haired boy stumbled back and tripped over the blue teddy bear. Landing painfully on his back, he slowly pulled his knees under his chin and muttered a single word.

* * *

The next thing that Ken's brain processed was the sudden rush of hot and dry air hitting his exposed face. Opening his eyes, the young male found himself in a place he felt he had been before but wasn't completely sure whether or not that was the case.

Shaking the sand out of his hair with his hands, Ken tried to take a step forward but felt something hold him back. Looking down, he was surprised to see that metal shackles were restraining him.

What's even more surprising to him was the fact that he didn't recognize the shape of those legs at all. Since when were his legs a light purple color and that hairy?

"Keep moving!"

A loud, angry command followed by a crack send a wave of pain throughout Ken's body. Clutching his right shoulder with his left hand, he tried his best to turn around as much as possible to see who was behind him.

If he was shocked before by his new appearance, he was even more so now that he was seeing this.

Behind him stood a male with long, spiky hair of varying shades of blue. Covering his eyes was a pair of yellow sunglasses with purple lenses. The male wore a blue, gray, and white jumpsuit, black shoes, cuffs on his wrists and ankles, and a blue cape with yellow lining.

The Digimon Emperor.

Beyond the simple fact that he was shocked to see himself—no, that couldn't be him… could it?

"What did I just say?! Keep moving!" the man shouted as he cracked his whip again, sending yet another wave of searing pain through Ken's body.

As Ken tried to cover his body in a desperate attempt to protect it from the hailstorm of blows, he noticed something. He could feel more than anything how all the Digimon around him were scurrying around nervously while avoiding him. Even though he was suffering right in front of them, why weren't they helping him?

A well-placed strike struck Ken on the back of his head, and his vision grew dark instantly.

* * *

The next thing that Ken was sure of was the strong winds that blowing from the opposite side of where he was coming from. It was pleasant, but it all felt so different to him at the same time as well.

A stream of white-hot flames hit him on the lower right side of the face, catching Ken off-guard and sending a new wave of pain through his body. This pain was unlike any he had felt before, and he cringed inwards to try and move away from it all.

Ken tried to look up to see who had hurt him, but he realized very quickly that something was wrong. His vision was greatly impaired. Everything around him was in a shade of red and, much to his surprise, he could barely see even a little bit in front of him.

Even so, he was sure that he recognized the figure in front of him. How could he not? They had known each for as long as Ken could remember.

"Brot—" Ken tried to call out, but his eyes widened in shock when the next stream of fire came his way from his brother's way.

Ken barely managed to avoid it, thrusting his body to the left, but winced as he heard the ominous crunching sound from below. Clutching his left foot in a grimace, Ken fell on his knees in pain.

This allowed him to see his brother face-to-face for the first time since forever, and Ken barely managed to hide a gasp. Sam's face was determined, but the younger brother could see the sadness and pain mixed in there as well.

Almost as if he was hesitant.

Before Ken could think of a reason to explain this thought to himself, he felt a strong surge of electricity strike his body and knocking him out cold.

* * *

When Ken next came to, he found himself on his knees in the sand, not knowing where he was and only wishing that the nightmare would end already.

"Ken!"

"Ken!"

Upon hearing his name being called, Ken looked up but regretted doing so almost immediately. He knew he actually recognized the voices this time, so he thought he was ready for what was in front of him.

Even so, nothing could have prepared him to see that his parents were tied and suspended above the head of a very familiar Digimon.

"No…" Ken breathed out as he slumped to the ground.

"I see that you're finally awake."

Jolting his head in the direction that the voice came from, Ken frowned when he didn't recognize the figure standing there.

The person was most certainly a boy, not likely to be a lot older than Ken was then. He was wearing a crimson jacket with an azure-colored flame pattern on the bottom over a faded orange shirt, blue pants, and dark boots.

"What…" Ken muttered, and the other boy raised an eyebrow, silently prompting the blue haired boy to continue. After taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he finally did, "What are you doing to my parents?! Let them go!"

"Now where is the fun in any of that? You know what, I have a better idea," the mysterious male trailed off, smirking as he slowly walked in the direction of the suspended adults, "As you can see, there is only one mouth that I have to feed, but I have two meals. I can't afford him getting a stomachache from eating too much, so I will only give him one. Choose which one of the two meals you want to keep."

"What?!" Ken exclaimed in horror as he turned from the male in front of him to his parents that were squirming heavily in a desperate attempt to free themselves. It didn't take long for him to make up his mind.

He couldn't.

Ken knew that he couldn't choose one parent over the other; they were both very important to him in their own way. How was he ever supposed to sacrifice one for the other?

"Tick tock tick tock tick—time's up! But I see that you haven't picked anything yet… Now, what should we do?" Ken looked up to see the diabolical smile on his face, and seeing it caused a shiver to run down his spine, "But what do you know? There is another one! You should be thankful, kid. You don't have to choose either one of them anymore."

"No!" Ken screamed, turning to his parents to see that, true to the other male's words, another one of those creatures had appeared. Much to Ken's horror, both Digimon were already positioned right below his parents with their mouths agape.

Before Ken knew what he was doing, he had made a wild dash towards his parents. He didn't know what he was thinking he could do, but he also knew that he had to do _something_.

He didn't get very far, however.

Not even three steps in, Ken felt the ground below him collapse and a hole formed around him. There wasn't anything that he could do as he fell into it.

There wasn't anything that he could do to save his parents.

* * *

"Did I… really…?" Ken muttered to himself, pulling his knees closer to him before burying his face in them.

He somehow forgot all about it, but now he finally remembered everything.

Ken remembered all the Digimon that he had enslaved and pushed beyond their limits. Ken remembered how he had made friends and family fight each other for their freedom. Ken remembered toying around with the lives of Digimon and humans alike without a care in the world.

Ken remembered all the things that he had done as the Digimon Emperor.

"What have I done?" Ken cried, his breath hitching as he dug his nails in fabric.

Suddenly feeling something brush against his foot, Ken looked up with red-rimmed eyes to see the drawing that he was holding earlier. Only this time, he was able to clearly see what the picture was showing.

Depicted on the sheet of paper was a bipedal insect-like creature with long stingers on either of its front arms and a set of hardened white wings on its back.

Ken's eyes widened when he noticed this. Those colors, those features. Even though they weren't like he remembered them to be, Ken instantly recognized it as an old friend of his.

It was only then that Ken finally realized something else that was wrong. He knew that he didn't have a lot of friends growing up, but somehow there was always somebody by his side. Somebody who was always supporting him, never turning their back towards him despite how cruel Ken was in the past.

"Wormmon!" Ken almost yelled in recognition, looking around his room for any signs of his partner. The little guy was always there for him, so he would be there for him again, right?

But Ken couldn't find him.

No matter how hard he tried, Ken couldn't find a trace of Wormmon. The only thing that came anywhere near to his friend's presence was the object lying on Ken's table.

Curiously and without thinking, almost as if some divine power guided him towards it, Ken made his way towards it. Once there, he gingerly picked it up and looked at it in the poor lighting of his room.

It was his D-3 Digivice.

Before Ken knew what was going, streams of images flashed through his mind's eye, reminding him of the last time when he was in the Digital World.

It showed him and his chimeric Kimeramon, his final battle against the DigiDestined and, most importantly, how the battle ended. This reminded him of what happened to Wormmon.

"Wormmon… I'm sorry…" Ken muttered whilst biting his lip, his vision getting blurry again as his grip on the Digivice tightened, "But now it is my turn to save you. Wait for me!"

And before Ken knew what he was doing, he had raised his hand towards the computer screen and got engulfed in a bright flash of light.

* * *

 **And that wraps up this oneshot! I will be the first to admit that this oneshot is probably the hardest (or tied hardest with a later oneshot in this stream of updates), so apologies if it didn't turn out as well. I hope you enjoyed it regardless of that, though, and stay tuned for tomorrow's oneshot on a different franchise!**


End file.
